Re: [Marxism] The Contrarian Coronavirus Theory That Informed the Trump Administration | The New Yorker
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Re: [Marxism] The Contrarian Coronavirus Theory That Informed the Trump Administration | The New Yorker
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Among his many endearing characteristics, Epstein is a self-centered blowhard and is always right, no matter what it is. Remind you of anyone? Most of what he says is not to be taken seriously. As you say, Louis, Epstein is the paradigmatic asshole. > On March 30, 2020 at 8:26 AM Louis Proyect via Marxism > mailto:marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu > wrote: > > > POSTING RULES & NOTES > #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. > #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. > #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. > * > > Isaac Chotiner takes down Richard Epstein, an NYU law professor who is a > libertarian know-it-all and the biggest asshole in the world. > > > > https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/the-contrarian-coronavirus-theory-that-informed-the-trump-administration > > _ > Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm > Set your options at: > https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/wytheholt%40cox.net > _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] The Contrarian Coronavirus Theory That Informed the Trump Administration | The New Yorker
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*
Aside from the fact that Epstein talks in complete gobbledygook, he does
two interesting things:
First, in truly Trumpian fashion, he makes grandiose statements about his
expertise. ("I'm trained in all of these things" - in relationship to
science.)
Second, as somebody who is totally untrained, he makes a mistake that I
actually made at first, before I started investigating the facts: He
understands that like all viruses, coronaviruses mutate and evolve. It is
true, to a degree, that a virus has it in its interest not to kill its
host, in order that the host can live long enough to pass on the virus to
others. He thinks, though, that the differences in severity of Covid-19 are
due to different strains of the virus. All the scientists dispute that as
far as I can tell, and as the article also says. And, as far as the
interest of the virus in not killing its host: *That is only true so long
as it doesn't kill the host immediately, or before the host can pass on the
virus. *
I'm reading Rob Wallace's "Big farms make big flu", and that's exactly one
point he makes: That if a virus can be passed on fairly quickly and easily,
it doesn't matter if it's ultimately fatal or not; it can survive and
multiply just as easily. But what do facts matter? Epstein has his
theories, and the facts that don't fit aren't facts. They don't exist.
But the interview is a terrific example of what I wrote about the lunatic
wing of the capitalist class.
John Reimann
--
*“In politics, abstract terms conceal treachery.” *from "The Black
Jacobins" by C. L. R. James
Check out:https:http://oaklandsocialist.com also on Facebook
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[Marxism] The Contrarian Coronavirus Theory That Informed the Trump Administration | The New Yorker
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Isaac Chotiner takes down Richard Epstein, an NYU law professor who is a libertarian know-it-all and the biggest asshole in the world. https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/the-contrarian-coronavirus-theory-that-informed-the-trump-administration _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
